Where to Trim For Handlebars

[Bernie Hunt]

I'm about 2 months into my project to convert the tightly trimmed goatee and mustache into a full blown set of handlebars. I generally trimmed weekly before but have now taken to no trimming on the mustache portion and only using the Wahl on the goatee portion.

Up until now, I just wax the mustache to the sides and let the longer tails run down the side of my mouth. Today I was working at home, so I started playing with twisting the bars. So now i can see what is underneath the mustache on the sides of my mouth.

On the top, I shave down to the crack between my cheeks and my upper lip.

So my question is if I only had the mustache, where should I trim it vertically, the edge of my mouth?

I need to know how high go in trimming the goatee, but not harming the mustache growing.

 

[Judah_Iam]

Hi Bernie ,

I shave mine at the end of my mouth , down and sideways , and been letting it all grow . Its to the bottom of my lower lip , in my mouth , this happened before and I trimmed it , just in the middle , but I'm going to persevere . I need to just start taking a few crumbs off the ends of the Handle bars . My whiskers on the stache when I shave like that eventually curl up naturally , I've used wax once in a couple or three weeks , just to get the middle out of my mouth so I could go out to dinner . Straws are your friend !

Once it gets so long I may trim a little to just get the guys that have suddenly decided to turn down , or out , instead of up . But Beard oil at night before bed , or occasionally in the morning , or afternoon , just two drops worked in to the skin and combed through does it . Its soft . ... I may check under it for the little hairs close to the lip , not regular Moustache whiskers , and trim them .

Beard Baron has a video on How to trim a Moustache ...

 

[Jnatcat]

I sported a handlebar for several several months and its a daily commitment to work with it, you are not supposed to trim at all you just keep letting the hair from the middle grow longer until it's out to the ends and wax it, it takes time and sometimes does not play nice but like I said it's a commitment.

 

[Bernie Hunt]

Judah_Iam,
Thanks for the tip on the beard oil, I had not thought about using that to help calm things down. I will give it a try.

Jnatcat,
You missed the point. If I don't trim at all, then it's a beard hahahaha.

 

[emwolf]

great video, thanks for posting.

 

[Judah_Iam]

You know Bernie , I think if you separate the Handlebars from the goatee it becomes a Vandyke , I think . Just a thought .

I'm about 2 months into my project to convert the tightly trimmed goatee and mustache into a full blown set of handlebars. I generally trimmed weekly before but have now taken to no trimming on the mustache portion and only using the Wahl on the goatee portion.

Up until now, I just wax the mustache to the sides and let the longer tails run down the side of my mouth. Today I was working at home, so I started playing with twisting the bars. So now i can see what is underneath the mustache on the sides of my mouth.

On the top, I shave down to the crack between my cheeks and my upper lip.

So my question is if I only had the mustache, where should I trim it vertically, the edge of my mouth?

I need to know how high go in trimming the goatee, but not harming the mustache growing.

 

[Bernie Hunt]

I trim the goatee every weekend. For the last two months I've been letting the goatee get wider to provide cover for the ends of the mustache as they grow out. This last weekend I cut the goatee back to it's normal width and sharpened up the corners where the goatee turns into the mustache. First off this makes the mustache now stand on it's own and just can't be curved down the side of the mouth to hide, so it's is not committed! Second it got be thinking about maybe a Vandyke. So I think I'll stop trimming the bottom of the goatee for a couple of weeks and see what happens.

 

[Jim]

I think there is a little confusion in the terms we are using here- a classic handle bar does not get cut anywhere but at the ends after it is formed up. In fact the longest hairs would be just below your nose. If combed down it would look like a elongated circle with the hairs being longest in the center. The above attached video is not a handlebar mustache. Some may call it a western or wildman.. don't know for sure.

Waxing is a daily chore that will become much easier as the hairs grow out from the center and as the ends join up. The first 6-10 months can be a pain keeping the hair out of your mouth and out of your soup. Persevere it will get easier as time goes on.

Trimming your beard from the mouth crease down or disconnecting it completely from your stash will as you noted make it more substantial and manly.

Good luck.

 

[Bernie Hunt]

As an update, it's been one week now with the mustache standing on it's own. For the weekly beard trimming, I did have to so some work where the beard meets up with the mustache. That area is complex to shave with a DE due to clearances and lack of desire to harm the mustache, so clean up was needed.

For the mustache, I've settled into Got2B Glue as the go to solution. I was able to use wax earlier, but the cobination of the weight of the mustache and the warmer temperatures are making wax less useful. I find that the Got2B Glue I can go through the whole day without it coming loose. Obviously drinking accidents and such will cause some dissolving, so I carry a glue stick with me for patching during the day. I've got 7/8" length on the sides now, but it's just not quite enough to curl. So I bunch them up and give them a slight upward turn. I think May 1st will be a good goal for the next step.

I still haven't decided on the goatee, so I'm letting it grow on the bottom so I have options.

 

[eightysixCJ]

To add what Jim said. I had a beard last fall and let things grow for a handlebar. I'm at five months. Haven't trimmed anything above my upper lip and shaved the rest. Every week things felt like I was almost there. The ends grew out, and with more wax took the shape I was looking for. But, as each week passed I could see, as much as things looked better, how far I have to go.

The center hairs are about halfway to the end/edge of my lip. I comb in some Capt. Fawcett's to work the stray hairs and work some Firehouse on the tips and ends but can see the middle short hairs dropping during the day and can't wait until they reach the handlebars to be able to tie them in and pull them up. Removing my beard and trimming the edges above my lip really made the handlebars stand out. As Jim said, it is a commitment and process, reinforced but daily complements. The trimming and guarding the long hairs while shaving alone is enough to want to take it off or just grow something easier. Stick with it! Ladies put more effort in hair/nails/makeup/etc, the return on a handlebar is far greater.

Based on my expience so far, I'm thinking it will be at least six months before I am at a beginning place to evaluate where to take my mustache and trim/shape. I'm about considering trimming the very tips off either side to remove the thin ends while letting everything thicken in. So I don't have two/three hairs sticking out past the rest. I guess it depends on the style you are looking for. I'm shooting for a traditional style, full moustache with 1.5-2" curls on the ends. I'm growing like what Jim said where the center hairs are the longest reaching either side.

Tom

 

[nortac]

I have had a handlebar 'stache for a few years and have only trimmed the occasional wild hair from the tips (very infrequently). But I have not been able to grow the hairs from the center of my lip all the way out to the ends. They always seem to pull out, get bitten off or what ever despite my best efforts to comb them to the sides and preserve their length. I have no doubt that some do it successfully, but I also think that some will never be able to do it as well. As for where to trim the mustache, that is all a personal preference depending on the look you wish to achieve. I, for one, want a larger deep swooping western style 'stach. Although I initially trimmed to just past the corners of my mouth and horizontally even with the corners of my mouth, and had a well developed H'bar, I have extended the vertical trim line to about even with my pupils of my eyes and the horizontal trim line well below my lower lip. So it still remains a work in progress well after about 4 years in.

 

[nortac]

On days when I'm too lazy to wax mine into a classic handlebar, it probably would be described as a "walrus" mustache. Certainly not to "WBMA" standards.
And to add, the pic in my avatar is me, but long before I grew an H'bar.

 

[Heckle]

I have had a HB for a few years now. I do not trim it but I do shave to keep it above the corners of my lips and not past the "smile lines". If you smile, you sill see a "line" between your cheeks and lip.

 

[Heckle]

And if you start to get "fed up" with maintaining the HB and want to get rid of it, wait a couple of weeks and see if your mind changes.